


Game Night

by Shaq23anime



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-08-19 00:55:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20201059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaq23anime/pseuds/Shaq23anime
Summary: Just an average night with the girls and Pinkie Pie's cousin playing one of their favorite board games. You can join in if you don't mind dark wizards, violent fighting skills and magical attacks. Don't you just love board games?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first official MLP fanfic (well one that I haven't deleted off this sight), I hope you like it and I hope you will review it.

“Oh come on Twilight, can’t I stay up just this once?”

The purple alicorn in question puts together two small coffee tables she took from the dining area and the study side by side. She then levitates a flower printed table cloth over them; she goes over to the closet while an already sleepy Spike follows her nagging.

She finally looks over at him annoyed. “no spike, you know how long our card games are, remember the last time we let you participate?”

Spike pretends not to know. “well, I…uh don’t seem to recall….”

“You fell asleep right in the middle of it, remember? And because you fell asleep your character kept disappearing from the board in the middle of battle,” said Twilight while levitating 6 pillows out of the closet. She places them in the usual order, two on the left side; two on the right side, one at the end and the last at her end. She takes the board game out and rests it on the middle of the table; she then levitates a pouty spike onto her back and trots into the bedroom.

Spike yawns as if proving her point. “oh come on twilight, I’m not that bad, look I’m not even sleepy”.

“Sure you’re not,” said Twilight with a smirk. She levitates him into his little basket bed next to hers and tucks him in. “Goodnight spike”.

The purple baby dragon yawns again. “Really….yawn……Twi…..I’m …….not tired,” He drifts off to sleep in a matter of minutes.

Twilight turned around and walked away from him, before she reached the door she could hear him snoring from his bed. She looks back at him and smiled. “Not sleepy huh?” She continues out the door and heads for the main room. She then hears a knocking on the front door and her eyes widened. “They’re early”. She opened the front door and was greeted by Fluttershy. “Well you’re early tonight, 5 minutes and 26 seconds to be exact”.

“Oh of course Twilight,” said Fluttershy while walking in. “I would never be late for game night”. They are both interrupted as a rainbow maned cyan Pegasus swoops into the room.

She remains in the air addressing both ponies. “hey Twilight, the master gamer has arrived”.

Another orange pony walks in through the door balancing a basket on her back. She smirks at her. “ain’t that just like rainbow, she wins one game and all of a sudden she’s a master”.

Rainbow dash lands next to twilight and moves toward the table smirking at Applejack. “Well AJ, I did beat all of you as the GREAT, MIGHTY AND TOTALLY AWESOME RAINBOOOOOOOWW KNIIIIIIGHT and the crowd goes wild”. She makes her own cheering crowd noises earning eye rolls from the other mares.

Twilight was about to close the door when another pony walks in. “Oh hi Rarity”.

“Hello Twilight” The white mare poses a little showing off the golden tiara on her head.

Twilight chuckles. “Nice tiara. Is it new?”

“Oh this old thing,” said Rarity proudly making her way over to sit between Fluttershy and Applejack on the right side of the table. “I wanted to make sure I was in character tonight”.

Applejack rested the basket on the table and pulled an apple pie out of it. “Let me guess, another princess?”

“Oh come now, I’m not that predictable,” said Rarity.

Rainbow dash chuckles. “Perish the thought,” she lands at the end of the table next to Applejack. “When’s Pinkie going to get here? It’s not a party without her”.

“DID SOMEPONY SAY PARTY?”

Rainbow dash jumped into the air from the shock of being scared. “PINKIE,” the other mares laughed as pinkie pie bounced from behind her and sits on the left side of the table next to her.

“And I brought a guest,” said Pinkie before yanking a light brown stallion out of nowhere to sit between her and Twilight.

The bewildered stallion looks around him before resting his dark brown eyes on Pinkie. “You’ve got to show me how you do that”.

Pinkie slowly waves her hooves in front of his face. “Its magic, oooooooohhhhhhh,” She gives him a tray of brownies. “Here you go”.

His face lights up and he takes the tray from her. “So that’s where I put it, thanks Pinkie,” he then holds the tray over his head excitedly. “I MADE BROWNIES, who wants some?”

Not missing a beat, Rarity flashes a charming smile at him. “I believe we are missing an introduction dear”.

Pinkie chuckles. “Sorry, this is Mikro, he’s my cousin from out of town”.

Mikro balances the tray on his head and smiles at everyone. “You can call me Mickey if you want; it’s easier for everyone to remember”.

“This is Rainbow dash, Apple jack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle,” said Pinkie introducing everyone in the room.

“A pleasure to meet all of you,” said Mickey, “I hope I’m not intruding on your ladies night”.

“Not at all,” said Twilight, “Granted I wasn’t really expecting an extra guest, I hope you don’t mind, I don’t have a pillow for you”.

“I don’t mind,” said Mickey turning to look at her through his long black curly bangs. He didn’t really look like he would be related to pinkie in any way, until he opened his mouth. “I’m ok sitting on the floor, my butts not cold at all”.

“Well um…..I’m glad,” said Twilight, “Oh my gosh, I forgot the drinks, you girls get started with the set up, I’ll be right back”.

As she leaves, Rainbow dash opens up the game laying out its contents on the table. “So pinkie, when were you gonna tell us you had a cousin?”

“He’s from papa pies side of the family,” said Pinkie while Mickey rests the tray of brownies on the table and pulls a plastic knife from behind his ear to cut it. Pinkie picks up the deck of cards to look through it. “He’s going to be living in Ponyville pretty soon and he’s going to be staying with me until he gets his own place”.

After the pink mare selects her cards, Applejack takes the deck to select her own. “So where ya from Mickey?”

“Mareyland,” said Mickey, “My family owns a vineyard over there, but I need to be closer to my research. So I decided to move to Canterlot”.

Pinkie wraps an arm around the stallion smiling. “I’m so happy, we’re going to have so much fun and you’ll just be a train ride away”.

Twilight comes back with the drinks and lays them on the table in front of each member of the table. “Ok everyone ready to start?”

“I AM,” said Pinkie pie giving Mickey the deck of cards. “Here Mickey”.

“Wait a minute Pinkie,” said Twilight before turning to Mickey. “Have you ever played this before?”

“Nope,” said Mickey, “How do you play?”

Pinkie enthusiastically interferes. “It’s a lot of fun, we use playing cards to beat each other up, but not for real, just for pretend and we get to use our imaginations and we can see the battles on the game board. Oh and we get to create a super exciting story together with lots of magic, fighting moves and…..”

“If you don’t mind Pinkie, I think I’ll explain it from here,” said Twilight, “basically Mickey, the object of the game is a battle royal to determine who will take over the castle and be the new ruler of the lost kingdom. Every player gets a total of 6 cards of their choosing, 2 magic cards, 2 fighting cards, 1 protection card that can be used repeated throughout the game and 1 weapon card that can also be used in the same way. Also each of the players are supplied with 1000 points, throughout a battle each attack will take away a certain number of points, when the points have dwindled to nothing the player loses. Now pick a character, we have a king, queen, prince, princess, knight, mage, and dark wizard”.

Mickey looked at the deck of cards in his hooves. “Hmm, dark wizard sounds like fun”.

Rarity and the others quirked an eyebrow. “Well that was unexpected, are you sure you wouldn’t want to be a knight or a prince?”

“Nope,” said Mickey happily, “that would be a little too cliché for my taste, besides I may be an earth pony but I actually know quite a bit about magic”.

“Cool,” said Pinkie pie, “I’ll be a dark wizard too”.

Rainbow dash laughs. “You? A dark wizard? This I gotta see. I’m going to be a knight”.

“ah’ll be a mage,” said Applejack, “ah’d like to give this whole magic thing a shot myself”.

“Me too,” said Twilight, “naturally”.

“You shall all call me Queen Rarity,” said Rarity.

Everyone else in the room looked at Fluttershy who has been quiet ever since Mickey arrived. She thought to herself for a while before deciding on something that made her blush a little. “Um……I…I’d like to be a Princess”.

“Princess Fluttershy?” asked Rarity, “I suppose that does have a rather nice ring to it”.

Twilight smiles at everyone and the game board lights up with a red and black aura. The ponies were treated to a holographic picture of the first floor of the castle. “Ok everypony the stage is set we will battle two at a time until only one of us is left standing. Pick your starter decks”. The other ponies chose their cards and she chose her own.

Mickey looks at the board in fascination. “Wow a visual simulation spell, did you do this Twilight?”

Twilight grins a little and blushes. “Oh no, I didn’t have to, the board was enchanted when I bought it from an antique shop in Canterlot. I’m impressed that you are able to recognize this type of spell”.

“A friend of mine showed it to me once,” said Mickey examining his cards.

Twilight eyed him for a little bit before continuing. “Well it looks like we have a worthy opponent on our hooves. Lets get started, everyone lay your hooves on the board”. All the ponies placed their hooves on the board and it lights even brighter. The red aura encased two out of the 7 ponies, Mickey and Applejack. “Alright the first battle will be the apple mage versus Mickey the dark wizard”.

“Wooooweee, lets get ready to rumble,” said Applejack grinning.

Twilight smiles back and looks out at all of them. “I will be the narrator for now, let the story begin”.


	2. Apple Mage vs Dark Wizard

Mickey’s character appears on the holograph board and walks through the entrance. He looks amazed at the scene being played out before them. “This is so awesome, so the characters do whatever we imagine them doing and you narrate a story from it?”

“Absolutely,” said Twilight, “watch”.

The dark wizard dawning a black leather vest with matching cape enters the dark desolate castle. He looks around him making sure that the area was safe. Suddenly a giant mallet comes barreling down on him; he jumps back narrowly missing the assault. He instantly looks ahead of him at his assailant. Glaring back at him was his opponent the Apple Mage dressed in a white blouse, brown slacks and orange hooded cape.

“Uh Twi,” said Applejack, “do we really need a description of what we’re wearing?”

“Of course,” said Twilight, “it helps to know exactly what the characters look like. Plus it will help Mickey’s imagination to flourish and focus on the story as a whole”.

Mickey grinned a little. “Thanks, but my imagination is always on the move”.

“Great,” said Twilight smiling back, “now let’s see, Applejacks weapon is the colossal hammer, so what’s your weapon going to be?” Mickey searches through his cards and lays one on the board.

The dark wizard unsheathes his weapon of choice, the cursed black sword of Tartarus. He charges forward swiping his sword at the apple mage who blocks it with her hammer. She swings the mighty weapon at him and it makes its mark hitting him in the chest. He is slammed against the castle wall losing 300 life points.

“Crap,” said Mickey; he was too slow getting out his protection card. He considered using a magic card but thought against it figuring he might need it later. He takes a deep breath, “I’m using my weapon again, sword slash from above”.

The dark wizard leaps into the air and swipes his sword at the apple mage again burying it into the handle. The mage swings her hammer thrusting both him and his sword towards a nearby wall. The apple mages hammer turns black, she loses 50 points. The dark wizard jumps off the wall and the apple mage lunges forward swinging at him once again but it collides with the wall as the wizard makes another leap over her head. He swings his sword one more time and slashes her back; the apple mage loses 300 points.

“Tarnation,” said Applejack in shock as the other mares around her stare at Mickey equally surprised. “First ya cursed my hammer now this, are ya sure you never played this before?”

“Doubly sure,” said Mickey happily, “like I said my imagination is always going”. He flashes a wicked grin at applejack and decided on his next move.

The apple mage slams her hammer into the ground causing the entire area to shake and quake. The floor cracks and breaks apart at the seams, the wizard jumps a bit and buries his sword in the wall to hold himself off the ground. He lifts himself onto the handle of his sword, and balances himself there. He had no idea what to do at this point, but unfortunately that decision is made for him. The apple mage charges after him readying her hammer for another blow.

“Sorry partner,” said Applejack, “Y’all are mine now, SEISMIC SLAM”. She throws down one of her magic cards.

Mickey only had a second to defend himself so he panics using a magic card of his own. “IRON DRILL”.

The wizard stands upright on the handle and thrusts his hooves in front of him. A gigantic drill springs from him and spins rapidly, the mages hammer collides with his drill and the two magical instruments press against one another in a struggle for dominance. His instrument wins out as it drills through the massive hammer taking another 100 points. Since the mage put all of her strength into the attack, she now drives forward toward the drill. She dodges it by shifting to the left on her back hooves, she speedily dashes away from the wizard to gain some distance. She catches her breath as the wizard hops back on the floor regaining his sword from the wall.

“Clever varmint,” said the apple mage, “but I reckon ya can’t block this one”. Suddenly a giant canon appears on her right shoulder, “CARROT CANON”. She shoots off the first round of giant pointy carrots directly at him. The wizard uses his protective shield to block the attack, all three carrots hit against his shield, the wizard loses 150 points.

“I WHAT?” said the wizard, “how the hay does that happen?” The wizard dodges another round of carrots which bury themselves in the wall behind him.

The apple mage laughs, “ mah carrot canon can take off 200 points without the use of a shield but with one it can still take off at least 50”. She shoots another round of four carrots, the wizard rolls on the floor and evades the assault. She hops in the same direction as him and shoots another round. One of the carrots catches the wizard off guard, the wizard loses 200 points.

Mickey trains his attention on his cards while continuing to use his protection card. He had already lost 650 points and was losing more by the minute. There was only one thing to do, “Twilight can I combine cards?”

“Yes you can,” said Twilight.

“Alright then,” said Mickey in his usual gung-ho spirit; he pushes both his weapon card and protection card forward. “SHIELD AND SWORD SLASH”.

The wizard charges forward directly at the mage, a carrot hits his shield, wizard loses 50 points. Another carrot heads his way, the wizard slashes through it with his sword, another carrot shoots out and he cuts into that one. He finally reaches the mage as another carrot shoots at him, it hits his shield but he gets close enough to slash the mage. The apple mage loses 300 points “DAG NAMMIT,” shouts the mage in frustration. She was out of magic cards and no longer had a weapon. She uses a fighting move jumping up and bringing a hoof down on him with a downward punch. The wizard jumps up towards her and slashes her in the stomach with his sword, the mage loses the rest of her point, the winner of our first battle is the MICKEY THE DARK WIZARD.

“My Celestia,” said Mickey sighing and falling backwards onto the floor, “that was intense”.

“Ah gotta hand it to ya,” said Applejack, “that wasn’t half bad, for a first timer”.

Twilight nods, “she’s right; you did very well for a beginner. Now Applejack has to give you what’s left of her deck, and your life points will be regenerated back to 1000”.

“Cool, I get my life points back?” said Mickey with an excited smile.

“Well yeah,” said Rainbow dash, “you’ll need them for your next opponent”.

“Oh yeah,” said Mickey, his worry began to set in, was every match going to be as intense as this one was? His attention is directed to applejack who handed him the rest of her playing cards which were 1 protection card and one fighting card. He graciously accepts them, “thank you”. Applejack tips her hat to him in silent acknowledgment.

Twilight smiles at the exchange, “ok everypony except Mickey and Applejack, hooves on the board”. The same thing happened as before, but this time the red aura chose Rainbow dash and Pinkie Pie. Twilight chuckled, “interesting, our next battle is the RAINBOW KNIGHT VERSUS PINKIE THE DARK WIZARD”.


	3. Rainbow Knight vs Dark Pink Wizard

The dark pink wizard shoots a poison arrow at the rainbow knight hitting her shoulder. The rainbow knight loses 100 points.

“PINKIE PIE,” said the rainbow knight, “I wasn’t ready you cheater”. She ducks as another arrow fly’s at her head.

“Sorry dashie,” said The pink wizard, “but I wouldn’t be a dark wizard if I didn’t do something evil”. She shoots another arrow at the knight but the knight cuts it down with her golden sword of justice. With the speed of a bolt of lightning, she fly’s towards the wizard preparing an attack. The wizard quickly reveals her staff blocking the knight’s attack. The knight loses 50 points.

“Oh man I forgot,” said the rainbow knight, “those arrows were poisonous”. She obviously underestimated the dark pink wizard. 

“Awww,” the pink wizard chuckles, “you thought this was going to be easy did you dashie”. Her staff glows powered by her dark magic, the rainbow knight swoops back just in time to evade the blast of a black energy bolt. The wizard giggles as she blasts an even larger bolt of energy at her opponent. The knight’s wings launch her into the air and she flings her sword at the wizard catching her off guard. The sword buries itself into her stomach, the wizard loses 300 points, the knight loses another 50. “HEY,” shouted the wizard as the sword returns to the knight.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” said the knight remaining in the air,“WING DAGGERS”. She spreads her wings fully out, her feathers turning to razor-sharp blades. She spins in mid-air launching the blades in the wizard’s direction; the wizard twirls her staff in front of her. She was able to smash some of the daggers but most penetrated 4 spots in her body. The wizard loses 200 points; the rainbow knight also loses 200 points.

The dark pink wizard waves a hoof over her staff and it glows once again. She gives the knight a wicked smirk as she uses another magic card, “FLAMES OF TARTARUS”. She slams her staff down onto the floor and the entire room becomes engulfed in flames. Tornadoes of pure fire spring from the ground and suck the knight into their vortex repeatedly taking points away from her. The rainbow knight loses 300 points, the tornado then sends the knight crashing into the ground, and she loses another 100 points.

“You’re so going to get it,” said The rainbow knight as she swooshes towards her to try another attack with her sword.

The pink wizard spins out of the way and dashes past her. Her staff glows as she points it at the knight once again, “party’s over Dashie”. An even larger bolt of black energy shoots out directly at the knight, “SAY GOODNIGHT”.

The knight smiles at the wizard calmly, “goodnight”, she uses a counter and attack card. She leans to the side and spreads out her bladed wings, the bolt bounces off of one of them and back at the wizard hitting her full on. The wizard loses 300 points; the knight uses this momentum and flies toward the wizard while she is distracted. She grabs the wizards back hooves and swings her around catapulting her into the floor. The wizard loses her remaining points, the winner is THE RAINBOW KNIGHT.

“YES,” shouted Rainbow dash victoriously, “who’s bad, who’s bad”.

“Awww,” Pinkie pie pouted, “and I was so close this time”.

“THAT WAS AMAZING,” shouted Mickey, “you were so cool, the both of you were”.

Twilight takes a sip from her drink, “you’re definitely getting better at this Pinkie pie”.

Pinkie hands over the rest of her cards to rainbow dash, “the next time I’ll beat you for sure”.

“Whatever,” said rainbow dash accepting the cards, “I have to admit though, you did give me more of a run for my money then last time. So maybe in our next game night you’ll actually give me a real fight”.

“Will do,” chirped Pinkie happily.

“All remaining players,” announced Twilight, “hooves on the board”, the same thing happened as before. The red aura chose Fluttershy and Twilight, the purple mare smiles excitedly at the yellow Pegasus, “fantastic it’s finally my turn”.

“Oh can I be the narrator this time?” said Mickey excitedly raising a hoof.

“I don’t see a problem with that,” said Twilight smiling at him.

“Thank you Twilight,” said Mickey, “ARE THE OPPONENTS READY?”

“READY,” said Twilight.

Fluttershy glances at her nervously, “a…actually…..I…um…I…I don’t think….”

“OK,” said Mickey, “TWILIGHT THE MAGE VERSUS PRINCESS FLUTTERSHY, LET THE BATTLE BEGIN”.


	4. Twilight Mage vs Princess Fluttershy

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKK,” Fluttershy squealed covering her head with her hooves, “w...Wait, twilight, I’m not ready, please stop hitting me”.

“Um…..I didn’t even start,” said Twilight confused.

“Oh…..sorry,” said Fluttershy a bit embarrassed.

Mickey gives Fluttershy a flirty smile, “whenever you’re ready, beautiful”.

Fluttershy’s entire face turns bright red and she hides her face behind her cards, “o…ok”. She focuses on them for a moment until she felt comfortable enough to use one of them, “I’m ready”.

“Great,” said Twilight, “ok Mickey lets begin”.

“Yes ma’am,” said Mickey. He picks up the plastic knife from before using it as a pretend microphone, “IN THIS CORNER WE HAVE THE ELEMENT OF MAGIC, FORMER STUDENT OF PRINCESS CELESTIA AND THE NEWEST ALICORN IN TOWN TWILIGHT THE PURPLE MAGE”. The mares clap their hooves at her introduction; Mickey continues, “AND IN THIS CORNER WE HAVE THE ELEMENT OF KINDNESS, THE ADORABLE CARETAKER OF WILD ANIMALS AND MY FUTURE WIFE, PRINCESS FLUTTERSHY”.

Pinkie pie giggles along with Rainbow dash who can’t seem to stop laughing, “someone’s got a crush on Fluttershy”.

“I so totally do,” said Mickey unashamed.

Applejack also snickers, “get on with the game lover boy”.

Twilight the mage and Princess Fluttershy face one another; the tension building in the air as they prepare their attacks. The Twilight mage is the first to strike by raising her mighty staff. She then points it at princess Fluttershy blasting a stream of energy at her. It catches the princess propelling her to the wall behind her, Princess Fluttershy loses 200 points. The Twilight Mage spreads out her wings and with one powerful flap, she speeds towards the princess. The princess spreads out her own wings and fly’s upward to evade her opponents attack. She finally uses her special attack move, the ground beneath twilight breaks apart and giant green vines shoot up from the cracks. They wrap around twilights limbs raised her up in the air. The vines sped down to the ground in a rapid pace and slams her into the floor, twilight mage loses 200 points. The attack is used again slamming twilight against a nearby wall, she loses another 200 points. Twilight has had enough; she uses her magical technique, solar flare.

In a flash of blinding light she burns off the vines from her limbs and jumps backwards to regain her distance, “wow, I did not expect that”.

“Oh I’m sorry, are you alright?” said Princess Fluttershy.

“Of course,” said Twilight, “nothing I can’t live through, besides it’s a game, you’re supposed to let loose”.

“Well if it’s really ok with you,” said Fluttershy, “then I won’t hold back”.

“WAIT A SECOND,” Rainbow dash interrupts, “you’ve been holding back this whole time? We just thought you really sucked at this game”.

“I didn’t want any of you to hate me for beating you,” said Fluttershy, “I don’t know what I would do if any of you were upset with me”.

“Why that’s preposterous,” said Rarity, “this is a game darling; it is all in good fun”.

“She’s right sugarcube,” said Applejack, “no ones gonna be angry at you fer winning. Let’s see whatcha got”.

Fluttershy looked over at Twilight who smiled back at her reassuringly, her confidence is raised a little and she nods, “alright”. She places a magic card onto the board, “arise my friends, gigantic Mantecore times 3”.

The princess waves her scepter in front of her and three 12 story tall mantecores are conjured out of nowhere. She fly’s up to sitting on one of their shoulders, “your princess commands you to destroy the twilight mage……..um please”. She fly’s out of the way allowing the massive beasts to charge toward twilight. The mage fly’s backwards and is about to take off again when the spike of one of the mantecores tail shoots off impaling her in the shoulder, twilight mage loses 300 points. At this moment all three mantecores leap at her, she puts up a flame shield for protection and the first two beasts collide into it burning up into ash. The third dashed to the right to avoid the shield, the mage raises her hooves to the right and spreads them out at her sides. The shield expands making it impossible for the mantecore to dodge it. He burns up into ash but the shield continues to expand. When the flame shield reaches princess Fluttershy the Pegasus puts up her own shield blocking it. Rapid surges of energy flash about as the two shields fight for dominance.

Princess Fluttershy gives up on the shield and fly’s up into the air, readying another attack. Suddenly twilight mage appears in front of her using a teleportation move and brings her staff down on fluttershy’s head catapulting her into the ground creating a crater, princess fluttershy loses 300 points. Fluttershy releases another spell from her scepter and a swarm of 12 bees jet towards the mage. Twilight twirls her staff evading them but two embed themselves into her body and explode, the twilight mage loses 100 points. Twilight mage counters with a reversal and duplication spell combo. Another swarm of 24 bees appear heading toward Fluttershy. The princess could not recover from her shock in time before 12 of those bees embed themselves into her body and explode; Princess Fluttershy loses her remaining points. THE WINNER IS THE TWILIGHT MAGE.  
.  
.  
.  
………. And then the dark wizard valiantly comes to her aid and scoops her up in his big strong arms, “are you alright my Princess?”

“Yes, I am,” said The princess, “but I lost the battle”.

“Not to worry,” said the ridiculously handsome dark wizard, “you shall always be a winner in my eyes”.

The princess is overwhelmed by his irresistible charm, “oh Mickey, that is the sweetest thing you have ever said to me. I shall favor thee with a kiss”.

“Uh, Mickey?” said Twilight quirking an eyebrow.

The princess and the wizard lean toward each other and share a passionate kiss on the lips.

“No Mickey,” said Twilight.

Ok…… the princess plants a passionate kiss on the wizard’s cheek……

“No Mickey”.

She plants a kiss on his forehead…..

“Getting warmer”.

The two passionately embrace in a hug?

“Almost there”.

…….Uh, the two share a hearty hoof shake?

“Better”.

“Oh come on really?” said Mickey whining at Twilight “the princess never shakes hooves with the hero for rescuing her”.

“You’re not the hero,” said Twilight, “you’re the dark wizard remember?”

“DARK WIZARDS NEED SOME LOVIN TOO YOU KNOW,” Mickey whined loudly, the other mares in the room chuckle at his expense. Except for Fluttershy who seems to have disappeared behind the long bangs of her pink mane, he face resembled a ripened red strawberry.

This makes Rainbow Dash laugh even more, “you know Mickey; you’re alright, for a newbie. You can hang with us anytime”.

Mickey perks up instantly and smiles, “thanks”.

Twilight chuckles, retrieving Fluttershy’s remaining cards, “ok, ok let’s move on everypony, hooves on the board”. The remaining ponies there laid their hooves on the board and the red aura chose the next opponents. Twilight looks toward them, “ok, our next opponents are Mickey the Dark Wizard versus Queen Rarity”.

“Fabulous,” said Rarity excitedly, “are you ready for me my dear?”

“Bring it on, your majesty,” said Mickey determined.


	5. Dark Wizard vs Queen Rarity

Queen Rarity strikes at the dark wizard attempting to take off his head with her lance, but he ducks his head narrowly cutting a few strands at the end of his mane. Mickey the dark wizard loses 5 points. The wizard jumps back and readies his black bladed sword. Queen Rarity readies her glistening diamond lance. The two opponents charged towards one another and engaged in a bit of high-speed fencing. Their blades striking and clashing against one another. Rarity swiftly clashes her lance against his own and the two blades press against one another at a standstill fighting for dominance. 

Rarity grins at him through the blades, “well done, my friend. Tell me, do you fence?”

“Nope,” said Mickey the wizard, “I was never interested in it”. He pushes her off and jumps back.

“Well you must come to the Canterlot country club for a sparring session,” said Rarity. “I go there every summer for lessons, you are free to join me whenever you like. It will be my treat”.

“Wow, thank you,” said Mickey, “that’s very generous of you”.

“Oh that’s quite alright darling; we shall meet at a more convenient time. But for now…,” said Queen Rarity as her lance turns into a diamond-studded whip. She lashes it around one of his front hooves, “BOW BEFORE YOUR QUEEN”. She yanks the whip back, pulling the wizard completely off the floor and over her head. She brings him back down finally for a head-on collision with the floor, the wizard loses 300 points. The wizard flings his sword at her narrowly missing her head and yanks himself free of her whip. Without missing a step Rarity chuckles maniacally lashing her whip vigorously at him causing imprints on the floor every time she misses. She catches him in the face, the diamond studs cutting his cheek, he loses another 5 points.

The wizard holds out his hoof again allowing the whip to coil around it once more but instead of succumbing to another attack he yanks her forward and charges at her burying his hoof directly into her face. She is flung ten feet away from him and loses 300 points.

Queen Rarity looks at him outraged, “HOW DARE YOU TOUCH THE ROYAL FAÇADE”. She retracts her whip and it morphs into a large battle axe with a diamond blade, “OFF WITH YOUR HEAD”. She leaps into the air and brings the axe down on the wizard. The wizard puts up a shield protecting him from the attack. 

“Wait a second,” said the dark wizard preparing for another attack, “what kind of weapon is that?”

“It is a weapon that morphs into other weapons,” said the Queen, “do you like it? I think it’s quite fetching”. She strikes the shield with her axe even harder and the shield begins to crack, “it’s also strong enough breakthrough any protective barrier”.

“Nice,” said the wizard, “wanna see what I can do?” the shield turned black and exploded, propelling the queen backward. The dark wizard called upon a magic card, “DARK SHADOWS”, Rarity’s very own shadow turns to razor-sharp spears and without warning jets from the ground impaling her through the chest and stomach. Queen Rarity loses 300 points. 

Before any more spikes can come out, the Queen grabs the one in her chest “JEWELED BARRAGE”. She crystallizes the spikes and the entire structure explodes into large black shards. The shards are propelled into Mickey’s body as he tried to protect himself with his shield, he loses 10 points. Before he could react a large shard buries itself into his shoulder sticking him to the wall behind him, he loses 300 points. He looks up to see Queen Rarity floating up above him with two large black jewel shards. She smiles and flings both shards directly at him trying to deal the final blow. The wizard smiles back and the shards stop inches away from his face.

Queen Rarity becomes confused, “ what is happening?”

“Did you forget?” asked the dark wizard breaking free from the shard in his shoulder, “my magic card is still activated”. He spreads his hooves out beside him and the shards break apart releasing the shadows still inside. They then surround and swirl around Rarity before latching onto her neck. With a flick of his hoof, Rarity was flung into the ceiling, Queen Rarity loses 200 points. 

Rarity launches herself off the ceiling and towards him for another attack. But it’s too late, wizard shouts out his attack “DENSITY”; a giant hard mass of black energy collides with her body and smashes her back into the ceiling squishing her like a bug. Queen Rarity loses her remaining points, THE WINNER IS MICKEY THE DARK WIZARD”.

“Now wait just an apple pickin minute,” said Applejack, “how is it that shadows can be made to squish someone?”

“I’ve noticed something interesting about this game,” said Mickey looking over at Rarity apologetically as she gave over her cards. He accepted the cards giving her a friendly smile, “The magic cards appear to be based on actual magical spells. A density spell is just that, it can add density and mass to just about anything. Since density and mass are already included in shadow spells to make weapons, all I had to do was add some more”.

Twilight looks over at him impressed, “how were you able to figure that out?”

“Well, my bestfriend a long time ago was a Unicorn,” said Mickey.“There were a lot of spells that he was practicing at the academy of magic and a great way for him to remember his lessons were to teach them to somepony else. So he taught them to me”.

“That’s so interesting,” said Twilight.

Rainbow dash’s stomach begins to growl a little, “hey guys”.

“Have you ever met a zebra named zecora?” said Twilight a little more interested in the other stallion.

“You guys have an actual zebra in this town?” said Mickey smiling at her.

“Uh, guys,” said Rainbow dash trying to get their attention.

“Yes we do,” said Twilight happily becoming more involved in the conversation, “you two should definitely talk, she uses magic too”.

“Hey guys, can we take a break?” asked Rainbow dash a little louder.

“Really?” asked Mickey, “I’d love to meet her, I don’t get to meet a lot of others besides unicorns that can do magic. Most of my time is spent on my research”.

“What are you researching?” asked Twilight becoming enraptured in the conversation, “if you don’t mind me asking”.

“That’s it,” said Rainbow dash getting impatient, she nudges the apple pie closer to her, “I don’t know about you guys but I’m taking a break, my stomachs eating itself”.

Twilight catches herself and blushes a little, “oh right sorry everypony, we’ll take a 15-minute snack break”. She chances another glance at Mickey again before heading to the kitchen for more snacks; she made a mental note to ask him more about his research tonight.


	7. INTERMISSION

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: when I wrote this fanfic it was during season 4 of MLP: FIM. So the characters have little knowledge of dragons, there's no friendship school at this point and no discoveries of hippogryphs

Twilight came out of the kitchen with some snacks and placed them on the table as Rarity moved the game board off the table. The board is placed on the side for now as the ponies conversed amongst one another “well soups on everyone”, the others dug into the spread.

Rainbow dash had already started on the pie and eyed something else on the table that looked even more tempting, “hey Mickey, could you pass the brownies?”

Mickey nearly choked on his drink and gawked at the cyan Pegasus, “w….what did you say?”

“Uh….pass the brownies?” Rainbow dash repeated herself.

Mickey’s pupils grew large as pure happiness flooded his senses, “YES, OH CELESTIA YES, I WILL PASS THE BROWNIES”. He enthusiastically gives her the whole tray and stared at her with excited expectation while wagging his tail like an energetic puppy.

Pinkie pie hugs him, “I’m so happy for you Mickey”.

Rainbow dash takes a brownie from the tray, “ok, I give, what’s the big deal?”

“You’re going to be my first,” said Mickey excitedly.

“I think you may want to rephrase that,” said Rainbow quirking an eyebrow.

Pinkie pets Mickey on the head, “it’s his very first try, I was excited too when I had my first try. It didn’t come out very good at first. I even remember what it was, it was granny pies cinnamon spiced pound cake. It was always yummy when granny made it and I wanted to make it too. But it came out really burnt but I could still taste the cinnamon so I guess the burnt parts are the spice. I made it a second time but with granny pies help it came out superduper tasty………”

“OH WAIT, I REMEMBER THAT,” Mickey interrupts, “was it that time I ate a spoon full of cinnamon and couldn’t stop coughing and started sneezing it out of my nose”.

“And granny pie scolded you for wasting her cinnamon, so she had to go to the market and get some more,” said Pinkie pie .

“And when she came back you two made the best cake I ever tasted,” said Mickey before the two ended their conversation in a fit of laughter, “ahhh, good times”.

“You’re definitely related to Pinkie pie,” said Rainbow munching on her treat, “these are really good”.

“Thanks,” said Mickey, “I heard you guys usually bring baked goods to these games, so I decided to bring something too”.

Twilight also takes a brownie from the tray and bites into it, “hmmm, we certainly appreciate it; this isn’t your special talent is it?”

“Oh no, my special talent is kind of tricky to explain,” said Mickey eating some apple pie “I have a photographic memory that retains mass amounts of information on just about anything. Kind of like an encyclopedia only not as boring, it’s kind of why my cutie mark is a big fat textbook”.

Twilight looked downward at his flank, “I didn’t notice that”.

“Most ponies don’t,” said Mickey, “and those who do think I’m a teacher or author or something. Granted I have written one or two books but it’s mostly based on whatever I happen to be researching at the time”.

“So what are you researching right now?” Twilight said, her interest starting to peak once more.

“Dragons,” said Mickey, the other ponies in the room halt in what they were doing for the moment and look over at him.

“Dragons,” said Applejack, “you mean you actually set hoof on their territory?”

“Of course,” said Mickey smiling, “how else am I going to gather the info I need to create Equestria’s very first official book of dragons?”

Twilight gasped instantly in delight, she suddenly embraces him in a hug, “THAT’S WONDERFUL, oh Mickey, I’ve been waiting for a book like that to come out”. She then remembers this is a stallion she barely knew and quickly lets him go “oh….uh… sorry”.

“No problem,” said Mickey blushing, “I enjoy getting hugs”. He then gives her a sly smirk, “feel free to give me another one anytime you want”.

Twilight rolls her eyes and chuckles, “one’s enough thank you. I’m serious though, I really was hoping to find a more detailed and accurate book on dragon’s. My library only has books that give a slight mention of dragons and their territories. The only time I was able to gain more information was from spike and he was on a hording rampage at the time”.

“Ah, I see, and this spike, I’m guessing he’s a baby dragon,” said Mickey tilting his head a bit.

“Yes he is,” said Twilight, “so you’ve witnessed that type of behavior before?”

“I made the mistake of giving a few too many presents to a female baby dragon,” said Mickey, “she was just so cute, and I have a weakness for adorable things, I couldn’t help but spoil her. But tell me; how did you put a stop to it”.

“Well, I’m not too clear on that,” said Twilight.

Rarity shivered, “I remember that day; my spikey wikey gave me such a terrible fright. I don’t quite know what happened either”.

“Ya’ll are still a little sketchy on that too huh?” said Applejack, “We just knew that we had to stop him from hordin. All ah remember was him looking at that fancy ruby Rarity was wearing, then he popped back to normal quicker then a jackrabbit on rollerskates”.

“It was his birthday ruby, he gave it to me the day before his birthday,” said Rarity smiling fondly, “At first I thought the beast wanted it, but then he turned out to be spike after all”.

“I see,” said Mickey deep in thought, “he saw an object of sentimental value and was instantly reminded of his true self. Why didn’t I think of that? All I could do at the time was allow her to remain in her greedy adult dragon form. Too bad I didn’t meet you girls before; I could have solved that dilemma a long time ago”.

“I certainly wish I met you earlier too,” said Twilight, “then at least we would have more insight on helping spike learn more about himself. Oh what am I saying? You haven’t even written the book yet”. She enthusiastically grabs his hoof and cradles it in her own, “when you finish your dragon book, could I please have a copy?”

“Uh…..ok,” said Mickey wondering why she was so excited, he then relaxed a little, “you like reading, don’t you?”

“I LOVE READING,” said Twilight excitedly, “and this book will be extremely helpful to me and spike”.

“Of course,” said Mickey, “but under one condition”.

Twilight tilts her head, “what?”

“Well sometime in the future I would love to come by the library and study spike,” said Mickey looking directly into her eyes, “not that many adult dragons allow me to get close to their babies, so my data on them is a bit limited. If I can study spike I can include that data in my book”.

“Absolutely, I’m sure spike would be happy to contribute,” said Twilight, she was so engulfed in her conversation with him that she didn’t notice her friends staring at her. She looks back at them, takes her hooves away, “what? This book is going to come in handy in the future”.

Rarity gives her a knowing smirk, “well my dear, we are just noticing how excited you are about seeing his………book”. Everyone chuckles, including Mickey.

“Hey, hey, hey,” said Mickey, “it’s actually nice to meet somepony who is actually looking forward to my research, well besides Princess Celestia. I send her all of my manuscripts for approval before publishing the books. Everyone else either thinks I’m a know it all who divulges facts about things nopony cares about or that I’m suicidal for constantly walking into dragon lands in the first place. Either way, WHAT AN AWESOME NIGHT!!!!!!!!” The other mares in the room slightly jumped from the sudden outburst.

“She’s your very first fan huh?” Rainbow Dash said in a cocky manner, “you’ll get use to it kid, trust me”.

“It’s not just that,” said Mickey, “I’m in a room playing the coolest game I’ve ever seen with 6 pretty mares, eating some tasty snacks and I get to meet another princess who’s interested in my work. The only thing that would make this night perfect would be if Fluttershy gave me a back rub”.

Fluttershy chuckles a bit, “well I’m sure your imagination can help you with that too”. The other mares laughed as Mickey pouted for the second time that night. The group enjoys the rest of their snack break, conversing amongst themselves until it was time for the next match.


	8. Twilight Mage vs Rainbow Knight

“Ok, the next two opponents have been chosen,” said Twilight after taking her hooves from the glowing board, “who wants to narrate this one?”

“I’LL DO IT,” said Mickey raising his hoof.

“You did it the last time,” said Twilight.

“Then I’ll do it,” said Rarity raising her hoof.

“Ok, Rarity’s the narrator of this battle, ready Rainbow dash?”

“I was ready yesterday,” said Rainbow dash, “let’s rock”.

The rainbow knight readied her sword which glowed like the rising sun. She wore armor of gleaming gold, which accented her sword marvelously. Unfortunately though it clashed with the cyan hue of her fur and often unkept rainbow coif. The twilight mage dawned a marvelous………

“GET ON WITH IT RARITY,” Rainbow dash yelled impatiently, “nopony cares about what we’re wearing”.

“Oh fine,” said Rarity pouting, “pardon me for introducing a little class to my storytelling”.

The Twilight mage raises her staff and uses an attack blasting a beam directly at the rainbow knight. The rainbow knight cuts through the blast and jumps at the mage bringing her sword down on the mage. The mage blocks the attack with her staff and it begins to glow. Using a constricting spell, she emits a wave of energy from it wrapping it around the knight’s body. With the chant of her magical incantation she aims for the ceiling and expels the knight from her, throwing her right through it. The rainbow knight loses 100 points. The rainbow knight spreads her wings out even wider then before and they start to glow. A blinding light flashes in the mages face blinding not just her but the entire area around them. When the light dissipates the knight continues to glow with a white aura.

The Rainbow knight smiles at her wickedly “time to break out the big guns”. She takes out her sword and points it at her. With the speed of light, she swoops down past the Twilight mage slashing her in the side, the mage loses 50 points. The Rainbow knight quickly comes around and swooshes past her from behind slashing her in the neck, the mage loses 50 points. The knight fly’s up in the air and swooshes down on the mage again. The twilight mage dashes out of the way narrowly missing another slash from above which strikes the floor. The knight ricochets’ off the floor and towards the mage stabbing her in the stomach, the mage loses 200 points. She pins the mage to the wall and dashes up into the air cutting the mage in half, the mage loses 300 points.

“Impressive,” stated the Twilight mage; she uses a healing spell to put herself back together, the mage gains 300 points.

“Seriously?” said Rainbow knight outraged, “that was one of my best attacks”.

“How unfortunate,” said the twilight mage, raising her own staff, “allow me to show you one of mine”. She fly’s up in the same speed as the knight and points her staff at her, “GRAVITY”. The knight’s entire body becomes as heavy as a thousand pound lead weight. She instantly falls to the ground with a thunderous thud, the knight loses 50 points. The knights wings turn to blades and shoot up at the mage embedding themselves in her wings pinning them to the ceiling, the mage loses 150 points. The mage taps the ceiling above the knight and creates a white lighted portal using her blade shower spell.

“How about a taste of your own medicine,” said the twilight mage, “spike shower”. A barrage of sharp jagged spikes pour down on the knight piercing every inch of her body and pinning her to the floor, the knight loses 200 points.

“DAMMIT TWILIGHT!!!” the knight shouted, the twilight mage connects her staff with the ceiling again calling upon another stream of spikes. The knight rolls onto her back and raises her sword. She emits a shield from it blocking her from the spike attack. She uses a spell of her own, “SWORD VIBRATION”. She swipes the sword into the air and vibrations from that strike cuts into the mage, the mage loses 200 points.

The mage pries herself from the ceiling and swoops down towards the knight using an attack with her staff. The knight puts up another shield deflecting her and bouncing her off. The gravity spell wear’s off and the knight is able to move away from under the mage gaining some distances.

“YOU’RE NOT WINNING THIS ONE RAINBOW,” said the mage as she touches the ground and large spikes burst from the floor penetrating the knight repeatedly through the chest and neck, the knight loses 200 points.

“THAT’S WHAT YOU THINK,” said the knight bursts through the spikes and spins directly at her. Her bladed wings slice into the mages face and chest, the mage loses 200 points. The mage puts up another shield which is quickly struck down by the knight’s bladed wings, the mage loses 50 points. 

The mage spins around collides her staff with the bladed wings of the knight “MAGNETIC STAFF”. The blade immediately sticks to the staff, in one swift motion the mage turns full circle ripping the blades of the left wing from the knights back. The knight loses 200 points. The knight spins again in a different direction trying to catch the mage from the other side. The mage blocks the attack with her staff and the blades stick to it. The mage deals the final blow by twisting her body around and bending forward, ripping the other bladed wing off of the knight. The rainbow knight loses her remaining points. THE WINNER IS THE TWILIGHT MAGE.

“Whoa nelly,” said AppleJack, “that was kinda brutal”.

“UGH, THAT SUCKS,” said Rainbow dash angrily, “THERE’S NO WAY I LOST TO AN EGGHEAD, I WANNA REMATCH”.

“Now hold on there sugar cube, don’t be such a soar loser,” said Applejack.

“I’m not being a soar loser,” said Rainbow dash scowling, “and besides, magnetism spells? Did we even have a spell card like that?”

“Rainbow dash,” said Twilight, “just because this spell has never been used before; doesn’t mean it never existed. Besides you won the last game we had, you can’t expect to win them all”.

Rainbow dash slumped back on her pillow scowling like a spoiled brat, “fine, but I get to narrate the next battle”. She reluctantly hands over the rest of her cards, “you got me this time Twi, but next time you’re mine”.

Twilight simply smiles at her as she takes RD’s cards, “fair enough, look forward to it”. She then turns to Mickey expectantly and speaks to him in an almost affectionate tone, “well, looks like it’s just you and me”.

“Uh… yeah, Looks like,” said Mickey trying to ignore her suggestive tone.

“In that case why don’t we make things a little more interesting,” said Twilight, “how about a spellcasters finale?” The other mare gasped a little and stared at her wide eyed.

“ya sure ya’ll wanna do that?” Applejack asked.

Pinkie pie bounced a little in her seat and leaned against Mickey, “DO IT, DO IT, DO IT MICKEY, it’ll be the most awesomest of awesome battles EVER”.

“Twilight are you sure you want to do this?” Rarity asked, “after all only unicorns can properly pull this off on the game board without the playing cards”.

“Really?” Mickey asked curiously, “we aren’t using cards in this round?”

Fluttershy nodded, “everything still happens on the board but you’ll both be casting real spells without the cards”.

“Neat,” said Mickey excitedly.

Twilight gazes at the stallion with extreme interest, “you mentioned that you have had experience with magic before, is it true?”

Mickey’s eyes connect with hers, he wondered about the look in Twilight’s eyes. Is this excitement? Expectation? Or wonder? Whatever it was, he felt the overwhelming need to not disappoint her. He gives her a serious look, “it’s true, I have studied magic after about 4 years of researching it and even longer practicing with my bestfriend. He taught me everything I know”.

Twilight’s eyes lit up, “then let’s do it, let’s battle in the spell casters finale. I would like to see what spells you’ve learned”.

“GIMME SPIKE FOR A WEEK,” said Mickey.

“WHAT?”

“If I win the spell caster finale, spike gets to travel with me for an entire week as part of my research”.

“Uh….well…um,” Twilight hesitated, even though Mickey is Pinkie’s cousin, allowing the baby dragon to travel around with a total stranger for a week still made her a bit uneasy, “I don’t know”.

“I will make a pinkie swear in front of everypony in this room that absolutely no harm will come to spike during our travels,” said Mickey bowing a little to her.

“OOOOHHHH,” said Pinkie pie, “and that’s something that no one can ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER break”.

Twilight thinks for a moment, having pinkie say that was definitely an endorsement. Plus it did make her feel a little better about the request, “well……I guess that shouldn’t be a problem. But just for a week and I get to put a tracking spell on the both of you in case something goes wrong”.

“Absolutely,” said Mickey.

“Also you stay away from any and all teenage dragons,” said Twilight.

“Oh….ok?” said Mickey.

“But ONLY, if you win,” said Twilight.

Mickey chuckles, “you mean when I win”.

“Yes,” said Twilight smiling, “that’s just the confidence I like in a worthy opponent. This is going to be fun”.


	9. Dark wizard vs Twilight Mage: round 1

“Ok Mickey, YOU THE STALLION,” Pinkie pie cheer massaging her cousin’s shoulders.

“I’m the stallion,” said Mickey getting hyped up.

“YOU CAN DO THIS”

“I CAN DO THIS”.

“YOU’RE A WINNER”

“I’M A WINNER”

“NO MATTER HOW BADLY TWILIGHT BEATS YOU”.

“NO MATTER HOW BAD…..HEY!!!!” Mickey frowns at her shrugging her off “whose side are you on anyway?”

“Just being honest,” said pinkie pie chuckling.

“She’s right sugarcube,” said Applejack taking another sip from her drink “you’re going up against an alicorn taught by Princess Celestia. Doesn't look like ya gonna win”.

“That just makes me want to do it even more,” said Mickey.

“My thoughts exactly,” said Twilight, her horn glowed vibrantly as she touched the board; her avatar takes form. She then looks directly over at Mickey grinning with determination.

Mickey quirks an eyebrow at her, he didn't even notice that she had switched seats with Fluttershy so that she was looking at him face to face. He follows suit by concentrating on his own power and his hooves glow, he places them on the board and his own avatar appears, “well someone’s an eager beaver”.

“Especially when it comes to you,” said Twilight.

Applejack leans close to Rarity whispering in her ear, “is it just me or does twilight seem a bit more excited then usual”.

“I know what you mean,” said Rarity smiling, “such passion, such bravado, isn't it simply romantic?”

Rainbow smiles excitedly, “ok everypony lets get this show on the road. Our opponents ready?”

Twilight had been maintaining eye contact with Mickey the entire time, “ready”.

Mickey gives her a serious look; this was going to be epic, “ready”.

“FIGHT,” Rainbow shouted.

Ok so, the twilight mage shot this energy beam thing at Mickey but he dodges it and strikes the floor with his giant black sword. The floor cracks and opens up and then twilight remembered she had wings and flew up into the air. But Mickey was like GET OVER HERE, and used his shadow power to grab her leg and threw her back on the floor. She lost about….uh….5 points…I guess. But princess badass was all like "OH NO YOU DIDN'T" and went all ALICORN POWERS ACTIVATE on him and raised the floor up. Then she flipped it and brought it back down on Mickey, whoa, he's totally going to feel that tomorrow. He lost……um…..seriously how many points is that again?

“30 points dear,” said Rarity getting annoyed with the unprofessional narration, “mind if I take over again? It’s getting hard to focus on the action with such elementary style narration”.

“Fiiiiine,” said Rainbow in a huff, “whatever”.

From the crater in the floor a large sonic wave broke through the land formation on the wizards head and the pieces were flung in the mages general direction. The mage easily breaks through the debris only to be bombarded by a tiny sonic wave piercing through her head and disorienting her magical powers. The Twilight mage loses 5 points and is constricted from using her magic.

Twilight gasped and froze in her actions, “what is this? A dual spell?”

“That’s right,” said Mickey, “a physical wave to remove the land mass and also acts as a binding spell”.

“But there isn’t even a card for that,” said Twilight.

“We’re not playing with cards,” said Mickey grinning wickedly, “Remember?”

The dark wizard swipes his black sword in her direction shooting a dark energy beam right into the mage knocking her off her hooves and onto the floor. The mage loses 20 points. The wizard jumps into the air ready to bring his sword down towards the mage, the mage rolls away missing the attack. The wizard catapults from the floor and towards her making another strike. The mage blocks it with her staff, the mage loses 5 points. He strikes at her a few more times slashing furiously at her staff, she loses 10 more points. The wizard ducks lower and tries to connect his sword into her back hooves but she back flips. She then spins connects her staff with his head, she turns again and sweeps his hooves right from under him.

She then jumps and brings the sharp end of her staff into his chest. The wizard loses a combination of 30 points. The dark wizard kicks the mage off of him, launching both her and the staff away from him. He gets on his back hooves and shoots wave after wave of energy balls at her from his front hooves. His attacks miss as she maneuvers and dodges each and every one of them. The wizard speeds forward in an attempt to impale her with his sword, the mage deflects the attack with her staff causing it to slide right into the wall above her head right next to her horn.

The Twilight mage struggles against him but smiles, “getting a bit desperate aren't we?”

Mickey said, “I bet that’s what you’d like to think”.

“I don’t think, I know,” said Twilight, she slides from under him and tries to strike him again but he leaps over to the side leaving his sword behind on the wall. He uses his shadow power causing a black spike to stick out from the ground and catch her right through the leg. The mage loses 30 points, the wizard spreads his hooves outward and other spikes burst from that one. The mage loses another 30 points, the shadow spikes rise lifting her off the floor to deliver another attack but the Mage launches her staff at the wizard penetrating through his skull. The wizard loses 50 points. The wizard loses his concentration and the shadow spikes fade releasing the mage back to land on the floor. Twilight casually walks toward the struggling wizard, “are you ok over there?”

The wizard yanked the staff out of his head and glared at her, “TROTTING ON SUNSHINE, THANKS FOR ASKING. How else would I feel about getting stabbed in the head?”

Twilight chuckles as she approaches him, “by the way,” she raises her hoof and the staff returns to her, “your binding spell has just expired”. 

“So you figured out there was a time limit on the binding spell,” said Mickey the dark wizard, “big deal”.

“Well I think it’s a big deal,” said Twilight, “you did everything in your power to inflict as much damage as possible before the binding spell ran its course. Interesting”.

The wizard grins at her, “glad you’re impressed”. He glows with a smoky red aura and the blade of his sword turns blood red, there was a sinister gleam emanating from his handsome features.

“Sinister gleam?” asked Applejack quirking an eyebrow.

“Handsome features?” asked Rainbow Dash rolling her eyes  
.

Mickey breaks his focus from Twilight for a moment and blushes, “you think I’m handsome?”

“I’m just stating the obvious darling,” said Rarity in her usual flirty manner, “and every evil character has a sinister gleam. You, my friend, have been absolutely dastardly”.

“Really?” Mickey said smiling at her sincerely.

Rarity smiled back, “why yes, you are a ruthless brute. It’s quite entertaining really”.

“ Awww stop Rarity,” said Mickey, “you’re making me blush”.

“Focus on me Mickey,” said Twilight interrupting them, for some reason she felt impatient and slightly annoyed at his diverted attention, “we’re not done yet”.

“You’re right,” said Mickey staring back at her, “let’s start round two”.


	10. Dark Wizard vs Twilight Mage: Final Round

The dark wizard jolts toward the mage running at top speed with his blood red sword clutched in his hooves. He flings the sword at her and she in turn blocks it with her staff. The wizard keeps moving forward and upper cuts her in the stomach, the mage loses 30 points. He leans back just in time to avoid getting blasted fully in the face by the mages horn. He jumps back and his sword fly’s back into his hooves. He spins slashing her in the face, the mage loses 10 points.

Twilight glares at him in pure irritation, “By Celestia’s mane”. She then notices her avatar and her eyes widened, “sh….she’s actually bleeding?”

The cut on her cheek was bleeding; a drop of blood hovers from her cheek and splashes against the wizard’s sword making it glow even darker.

“Well,” said Mickey, his glowing red sword poised at her menacingly, “that is what a red sword spell does”. His pupils disappear and glow bright red as archaic symbols appear underneath him. Suddenly the same archaic symbols appear beneath the mage, she begins to float; the symbols then shoot up from the floor and through her body branding different spots throughout her being. The mage loses 100 points.

The mage struggles against his dark magic; but the wizard buries his sword into the ground where the symbols are and a jolt of electricity surges through the mages body. The mage loses 50 points. The ground opens up and the dark wizard casted his spell, “demons of tartarus arise, rip my enemy apart; DRAG HER INTO YOUR DARK WORLD OF NIGHTMARES”. Grotesque claws, tentacles and hooves reach out of the crack in the floor and wrap themselves around the mage’s limbs. They begin to yank and pull her body in various directions; she struggles flapping her wings desperately as they pull her into the crack. The mage loses 100 points.

The mage brings her hooves up and clings to the edge for dear life. Her back legs are broken by one of the tentacles, the mage loses 50 points. The wizard smiles still clutching the handle of his sword as it glows even brighter. The crack begins to close on Twilight in an attempt to decapitate her. The mage’s horn glows and she shoots a white energy beam at the wizard hitting him full on, knocking him off of his hooves and away from his sword, the wizard loses 100 points. She then shoots another beam at the sword breaking it in half. The archaic symbols disappear and so do the tentacles and hooves around her body. She spreads her wings and flys out just in time for the floor to close off completely. She looks in front of her and is instantly attacked by a black orb of energy shot directly in her face, the mage loses 50 points. It knocks her out of the sky and she lands on the floor again. She raises her head quick enough to blast him again with another beam, the wizard loses 50 points.

While he is distracted, the mage glows with a bright white aura and she takes off back into the sky. A wave of energy bursts through her body and hits the wizard squishing him into the ground, the wizard loses 100 points. The wizard tries to conjure a shield to protect himself but another wave is shot in his direction crushing him even further into the ground, the wizard loses another 100 points. The wizard dashes from beneath her assault and slides out of the way of another attack from above. He shoots a black beam at her which she easily dodges. The wizard growls and pulls shadows from the far corners of the room. The shadows lash out at Twilight wrapping around her neck and yanking her down to the ground. She flashes a white light from her body again and the shadows disappear. She shoots an energy ball at him latching it onto his face. It erupts in a fiery explosion of light taking half of his face with it, the wizard loses 150 points.

“UGH”, the wizard shouted out in frustration, he knew he was quickly losing momentum. He sticks his hoof in the open wound in his face and turns his blood into a large blade. He launches himself directly at the mage catching her off guard and slitting her throat. The mage loses 100 points. The wizard sticks his hooves out in front of him casting another blood spell, he pulls two streams of blood from the mages neck wound. As he stands on his hind legs, he crosses the streams of blood and grabs onto the ends of them, holding one in each hoof. The mages horn glows and she repels him away from her, but this only causes her to be yanked along with him. The wizard skids his back hooves onto the ground gaining some friction. He jumps up and over Twilights head, yanking her backwards, this time her back collides with his own and he leans forward continuously pulling the streams of blood which were now wrapped around her neck. The mage loses 100 points; the mage struggles against his choke hold, writhing and trying to get off his back, but is unable to break free. The wizard’s front hooves touch the floor adding additional pressure to Twilights neck, the mage loses 50 points. The wizard smiles maliciously as he spreads out his front hooves, tightening the blood streams around Twilights neck, “any last words before I snap your neck in two?”

Twilight growls in anger and the pupils of her eyes disappear. Her entire body vibrates with pure energy. The wizard tries to tighten the streams again but fails as the mage forcefully plants all four hooves on the ground, pulling his entire body onto her back. The energy flows to her horn and she breaks free of his blood spell. She then levitates him off of her and launches him into the wall, the wizard loses 50 points. The wizard tries to concentrate his hooves in her direction but is unable to as the mage slams him against the wall again, the wizard loses 50 points.

The wizard pries himself off the wall and teeters forward a little, struggling to regain himself, he recovers enough to notice a large blast of pure magical energy heading his way. He instantly raises his hooves and shoots his own black energy right back at her. The two beams collide with one another and struggle in a fight for dominance. The background shakes around them as the two struggle to overcome one another. Both opponents glowed with an aura representing their abilities, Twilight a white light, and Mickey a black one.

The ground shakes even more as the two powers push, surge, and clash against each other………..

Rainbow dash looks over at them a bit worried, “um…..something’s wrong with the board”. The game board is shaking and glowing rapidly.

Lightening bolts flash and shoot from the colliding beams; the wizard gets pushed back a little but digs his hooves into the ground and concentrates his power on the alicorn. The area around them begins to break at the seams as the two beams wrestle with each other.

“Uh……T..Twi….?” said Applejack, “the board is…”

“Not now,” said Twilight, as the game board glows even brighter and it rattles violently on the table.

Pinkie Pie slowly ducks under the table, “uh oh”.

A large ball of energy forms from the collision of the two beams and grows larger and larger until it encompasses the entire room. The sparks and lightening bolts become even more erratic, it becomes dangerously unstable and rumbles with the sheer force of their powers until………until…….TWILIGHT THE BOARD IS GOING TO…..

The game board explodes blowing Mickey away from it and against the wall behind him. He cries out in a mixture of shock and pain but is quickly yanked under the table by Pinkie Pie as the explosion is followed by different popping and crackling noises. It was as if someone had lit it up with a chain of firecrackers. Twilight instantly snaps out of her rage induced actions and ducked low to the ground along with her friends. The board jolts, jumps, and rattles on the table as it continues it’s violent fit before finally slowing down and resting flat on the table. The room remains silent for a while before Mickey slowly emerges from his position on the floor. He rubs the back of his head as the pain subsided and looks warily at the board.

“Hey…….hey,” Mickey whispered, as if speaking normally would set the board off again, “is everyone alright?” He crawls on his belly and approaches Pinkie Pie, “Pinkie, are you hurt?”

Pinkie Pie peeks at him from underneath her hooves and also whispered, “I don’t think so, shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

Mickey feels the back of his head with his hoof and then looks at it. He then shows his hoof to pinkie giving her a reassuring smile, “look, no blood, I’m officially head trauma free”.

“YAY,” said Pinkie giving him a hug, “thank goodness”.

Rainbow dash and Applejack peeked over the edge of the table at the board. Rainbow watches it like a hawk, “sh…should we like smash it with a hammer or something? You know before it freaks out again and kills us”.

“No, don’t you dare,” said Twilight slowly getting up from the floor, “it’s a one of a kind magical item”. She makes her way cautiously back to the board and examines it, she pokes it a little making sure that it’s safe enough to get close to. She sighs and looks at the other ponies, “I think we’re safe everypony”. The others begin to slowly emerge from their hiding spots and glanced at the smoking board.

“Oh no,” Twilight said looking sadly at it. The board was charred and burned beyond repair; however Twilights flickering avatar was still standing there. In the area where Mickey’s dark wizard avatar once stood was nothing but a smoky crater. The alicorn sighed and sat on her haunches, “it’s ruined”.

“I’m so sorry Twilight,” Mickey said, “it’s my fault; I went way too far”.

“No Mickey it’s not,” said Twilight trying to muster a smile for him, “I’m the one that pushed for this battle. We both kind of lost our minds in this”. She then noticed his disheveled look and felt a pang of guilt, “are you ok? Di…..did I hurt you?”

“Yep,” said Mickey smiling at her, “but nothing too serious”.

“Now what?” asked Rainbow Dash looking out at everyone.

“I’ll have to do a recovery spell,” said Twilight, “but I think this marks the end of game night, we still won’t be able to use it for a while. Its magical energy needs time to fully recover”.

“Please Twilight,” Mickey said, “allow me; it’s the least I can do”.

“Y…you don’t have to……,” Twilight is interrupted by Mickey whose hooves were already touching the board.

He smiles at her again as he performs the spell, “I insist”. He closes his eyes and the board turns white. The other pony’s gather around the table gazing in fascination at the board. However Twilight’s attention was on Mickey, even if he was studying magic for a short time; it is clearly not his special talent. So why was he this skilled in it? A-class mages could do this kind of spell in their sleep; she could too; so how is it possible for Mickey to do this so easily? Another thing that bothered her was the dark magic spell he casted. There aren’t that many unicorns or earth ponies who know a spell that will send their enemies to the depths of Tartarus itself. She wasn’t sure whether to be fascinated and impressed, or worried and slightly disturbed by it. The more she looked at him the more questions arose in her head; ones that she would love to find the answers to. The glowing stopped and Twilight was brought back to reality; she looked over at the board and it was as good as new.

Twilight smiled at him fully, “you fixed it”.

“The best I could,” said Mickey, “still can’t use it though, there goes our match”.

“Ah lost track of who won,” Applejack said.

“I didn’t,” said Rainbow dash, “Twilight totally won”.

“She did?” asked Mickey looking over at the cyan Pegasus.

Rainbow dash quirks an eyebrow at him, “dude; you were blown up, of course she did”.

Rarity fixes her hair while addressing Mickey, “she sustained just a little more damage then you, but that last move ended the game completely”.

Mickey’s ears turn downward in disappointment; he wasn’t keeping track of the points at all, “oh man and I was trying so hard too”.

“Awww, don’t be sad Mickey,” said Pinkie trying to cheer him up, “you were awesome”.

Twilight reached over and touched his hoof forcing Mickey to look at her, “sorry you didn’t get a chance to kill me tonight Mickey. But you were amazing and I had a lot of fun dueling with you”.

Mickey blushed for a moment, but gave her a hoof shake, “you know what? I had fun too. Good game Twilight”.

“Good game,” said Twilight smiling and shaking his hoof too.

Rainbow Dash stretched out her wings and yawned, “Well that was epic and all but it’s getting late, I’m heading on home”. She fly’s upward and towards the door “thanks Twilight, night guys, see you next time”. The others say goodnight to her as she fly’s out the door.

“We should get going too,” said Applejack moving from the table, “need any help cleaning up twi?”

“Oh no, I’m fine,” said Twilight, “you girls can head home, I’ll take care of this”.

“Well if ya say so,” said Applejack, “come on ya’ll, goodnight twilight”.

“Night Applejack, goodnight everyone,” said Twilight walking everyone to the door. As she open it she noticed something she hadn’t before. A wooden cart was parked outside the library; she tilts her head curiously looking at it.

“ALL ABOARD,” said Mickey trotting out to meet everyone, “I’ll give you ladies a ride home”.

“Why that’s right neighborly of ya Mickey,” said Applejack while boarding the cart.

“Yes thank you so much, “said Rarity as she boarded the cart along with Pinkie pie and Fluttershy.

“Night Twilight,” said Mickey turning to the purple mare, “it was nice meeting you”.

“It was nice meeting you too,” said Twilight, “and don’t worry, you can still come by and visit us anytime you like for your research”.

Mickey’s eyes light up and he smiled excitedly, “OH MY GOSH; I was soooooo hoping you would say that. I promise you won’t even know I was there”.

“Great,” said Twilight chuckles at his enthusiasm, “I…..I really do hope I see you again”.

Mickey trots happily away from her, “trust me, you will”.

He hops into the cart next to Pinkie Pie and the others. His hooves glow for a moment and he touches the cart causing it to glow as well. The others watch in shock as the whole cart begins to move on its own, “hold on tight ladies; next stop Sweet Apple Acres”. The cart takes off rolling down the dirt path to its next destination, leaving a very startled Twilight behind.

Twilight stared at the cart and its occupants rolling speedily down the path to Applejack's home along with the startled shouts of her friends and the manic laughter of pinkie pie. She quietly stayed where she was for a moment before heading back inside. Her curiosity peaked once again she closes the door behind her and smiles at the thought of getting to see her newfound friend again.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's all folks, thank you all for giving my very first MLP fanfiction a chance. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.


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